Tyson Foods slides as muted beef sales, forecast offset Q4 earnings beat

Updated at 8:01 am EST

Tyson Foods TSN on Monday posted better-than-expected earnings but forecast muted full-year sales amid a continuing slowdown in U.S. meat demand. 

Tyson Foods adjusted earnings for the three months ended in October, the group's fiscal fourth quarter, were pegged at 37 cents a share, down 77% from the year-earlier period but ahead of the Wall Street consensus forecast of 29 cents share. 

Group revenue fell 2.8% to $13.35 billion, missing analysts' forecast of a $13.71 billion tally. Beef sales were down 6.7% to $5.03 billion, Tyson said, while chicken sales rose 1.7% to $4.155 billion and pork sales slipped 0.2% to $1.494 billion.

Looking into the coming financial year, Tyson Foods sees revenue of around $52.8 billion, flat to 2023 levels but lower than the Wall Street forecast of around $54.4 billion.

“While economic headwinds persist, we are moving in the right direction and managing what we can control," said Chief Executive Donnie King. "The decisions we have taken have made us more operationally efficient and aided a second quarter of sequential improvement in adjusted operating income."

"The strategy and leadership team we have in place will allow us to take advantage of the long-term opportunities in front of us and drive shareholder value,” he added. 

Tyson Foods shares were marked 4.15% lower in pre-market trading immediately following the earnings release to indicate an opening bell price of $45 each, a move that would extend the stock's six month decline to around 8.6%.

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